Simultaneous radio program and time signal recording system



March 11, 1947. H. L. RUSCH SIMULTANEOUS RADIO PROGRAM AND TIME SIGNAL RECORDING SYSTEM m: QNWWK Ill- H fnvenim i/ w 0* L. Rama Patented Mar. 11, 1947 UNlTED STATES Pit.

SIMULTANEOUS RADIO PEGGRAM AND TINIE SIGNAL RECORDING SYSTEM of Illinois Application October 4, 1944, Serial No. 557,145

5 Claims.

The present invention relates to new and improved time record producing apparatus and more particularly to apparatus for producing a record of time signals upon one or more radio program recordings.

The primary object of the present invention is the provision of new and improved apparatus for superimposing a time signal record upon selected radio program recordings in such manner that the intensities of the superimposed t me signals may be individually and independently adjusted whereby the time signals and radio programs may be satisfactorily recorded.

In analyzing radio listener response, it is extremely desirable to correlate the tuning or operation of the radio receivers under observation 7 with the radio programs being analyzed to ob tain information as to the reactions and act ons of people listening to the program. To do this, it is desirable to record the various stations to wh ch a radio receiver or receivers are tuned and t en to decode or analyze the records to obta n the listeners response throughout the duration of the program, The station tuning record should be very accurate so that the station to which the receiver is tuned at any time may be accurately ascertained. It is also important that the radio program itself be correlated with the record of the stations to which the receivers are tuned, For instance, the radio receiver tun ng records may show that. a considerable change in the number of listeners occurs as a result of the change in the nature of the program or as a result of one star coming on or leaving a program. In order that the listener response not be misinterpreted to the harm of the star, the time at which this or that star comes on or leaves the pro ram has to be known with certa nty.

Some radio program scripts are carefully timed during rehearsal so that the time the various elements go on the air is worked out fairly accurately. Sometimes the time that a certain star comes on the air or the time that a certain line is begun is recorded on the margin of the script, within the nearest half minute. However, the timing of a live program on the air is never exactly the same as the tim ng of the rehearsal.

Accord ngly, it is one of the primary objects of the present invention to provide a new and improved apparatus for simultaneously recording selected radio programs and time signals. A convenient method of recording the radio program is to make disc records of the programs and, according to the present invention, time signals are superimposed upon the radio program whereby the time signals and radio program are simultaneously recorded upon the disc.

Another object of the present invention is to provide new and improved apparatus for supplying a. single time s gnal to a plurality of radio program recordings and which is so constructed and arranged that the time signal components supplied to the various program recordings can be individually and independently adjusted to insure satisfactory recording.

Other ob'ects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description, in the course of which reference is had to the accompanying drawing, the single figure of which is a diagrammat c representation of one embodiment of the invention.

According to the present invention, spoken time announcements are supplied to the radio program recording apparatus so that these announcements may be recorded simultaneously with the program. The announcements may cons st of signals indicating definitely the particular time of the signal, e. g., a tone signal preceded by astatement of the time at which the tone signal occurs. The signals may he made locally or be supplied from a distance, as over a telephone line, In the embod ment of the invention illustrated in the drawing, the t me signals are inductively picked up, from asuitable source, such as a telephone ringer box 56, to which the signals are supplied from a local or remote originating station, by aco l I2 wound about an iron core and attached or otherwise secured in close proximity to the box.

The time signals are amplified by a driver amplifier indicated generally by reference character M, from which the amplified signals are supplied to a plu ality of indiv dual isolating amplifiers l6, l8, Zil and 22. The amplified signals are adapted selec ively to be sup lied to ind vidual two-wire recording lines 24, iii, 28 and 3B coupled to recording amplifier units 3d, 3% and 38, respectively. The latter are coupled to individual recording heads 42, it, 35 and 48, respectively.

The desired or selected radio programs ma be supplied to the recording lines 24. 25. 28 and 3 5 for simultaneous recording with the time signals. Thus any one of four radio receivers l, 2, 3 or 4 may be connected to any one of the four recording lines. The radio receivers may be of conventional construction and are preferably of. a type having manual volume controls (not shown) and output transformers the secondary windings 5 of. which are connected to telephone type output jacks 6. The output jacks 6 may be connected to recording line jacks i connected to lines 24 to 36, inclusive, by suitable means such as by patch cords similar to the one indicated by reference character 8.

The recording amplifier units have input and output windings indicated by reference characters i! and 52, respectively, the impedances of the input windings being preferably equal to the impedances of the output windings 5 to provide proper matching. Otherwise, the units may be of conventional construction although it is preferred they be supplied from a power source having little or no interference.

The time signals derived from source ill are, as heretofore indicated, picked up by the coil 12 and supplied to the driver amplifier Hi. This amplifier may include a driver tube 5% (as of the 6807 type), the grid 55 of which is connected to a potentiometer resistor 53 (which may have a value of about 500 ohms). The pickup coil I2 is connected to the potentiometer resistor through a series resistor iii? (of a value of about 400 ohms) and a movable contact 52 providinga means of adjustment of the intensity of the time signals. The tube ti iincludes also a cathode Ell connected to ground through a bias resistor 53 and a pair of anodes M connected to a suitable source of anode voltage through a coil 56 serving the dual function of a coupling impedance and a primary winding oi a transformer Gil coupling a volume indicator or meter it to the anode circuit. The meter is connected across the terminals of a secondary winding l2 inductively coupled to the winding 66.

The individual isolating amplifiers are individually coupled to the driver amplifier through individual potentiometer resistors and adjustable conductors l2l i, lit-l3, 85-452 and 84-86. The resistors are all connected to a common conductor 88 connected to the anodes M of tube 54 through a coupling condenser 85. The resistors may have values of about 5,000 ohms each and the coupling condenser may have a value of about .02 microfarad.

The individual adjustable inputs to the isolating amplifiers provide means for adjusting the volume or intensity of the individual time signal components, the total intensity of which, it may be remembered, is regulatable by the adjustment of the input to the driver amplifier Hi. The isolating amplifiers include identical amplifier tubes 92, the output circuits of which are connected to individual output transformers 9d, 95, 98 and l Gil, respectively. One terminal of the primary winding of each transformer is connected to the anode of its corresponding amplifier tube and the other to a common conductor it leading to a suitable source of anode voltage. The secondary windings ltd, itii, Hi3 and i it of the output amplifiers are connected to individual output jacks H2 adapted selectively to be connected by patch cords Ht, similar to patch cords 8, to jacks H6 connected to recording lines 24, 2t, 28 and 3b. The secondary windings Hi l to Hi inclusive, have impedances matching those of the radio receiver output windings 5 and the recording amplifier input windings 51 in order properly to match the units.

To assist in adjusting the relative intensities of the original time signals and of the individual amplified time signal components, relative to the radio programs, there is provided a monitor am plifier me, the input of which is connected to a jack I22 so that it may be selectively connected to a desired recording line. Its output may be connected to a receiver HM, which may be either an earphone or a loud speaker.

In operation, the radio receivers may be rendered operative and tuned to a radio program or programs that are to be analyzed. One or more of the receivers may be used as a spare and it should be understood that more than four receivers may be utilized if desired. The selected receivers are connected to the desired recording lines 24, 2G, 28 or tit, whereby the programs may be recorded upon placing the recording amplifier units 32 to 38 into operation and placing the recorder heads upon associated discs. However, before the recording apparatus is made operative, the time signals are supplied to the desired recording lines and the intensities of the radio programs and time signals are adjusted to insure satisfactory simultaneous recording of both. The driver and isolating amplifiers are rendered operative and the intensity of the time signal supplied to the driver amplifier is adiusted. if necessary. by the potentiometer 535?2 and then the selected time signal intensity is adjusted by the intensity or volume control of the amplifier l6, i8, 20 or 22, whichever is used. The monitor amplifier may be connected to the recording line to be used while the adjustment is being made so that the relative intensities of the radio program and time signals may be accurately adjusted. Ordinaril the intensities of both should be at approximately the same level for best results.

After the radio program and time signal intensities have been adjusted, the apparatus is ready for making records and this can be readily done by energizing the selected recorded amplifier units and placing the recording heads upon the record discs which are rotated in conventional manner by motors or the like (not shown).

Should more than one radio program be recorded at the same time, then a plurality of time record signals from the individual isolating amplifiers are utilized. The individual outputs from the latter are individually adjustable by means of the input potentiometers and the adjustment of one has no appreciable effect upon the others because of the independent relationship of the isolating amplifiers. Thus it not necessary to make repeated ad ustments when a plurality of pro rams are to be recorded. I I Although the present invention has been described in connection with the details of one embodiment thereof, it should be understood that such details are not intended to be limitative of the invention except in so far as set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. Time record producing apparatus, including in combination, means for producing a time signal, means including a plurality of individual amplifiers each supplied with said signal for preducing a plurality of separate amplified time signals corresponding to said first mentioned time signal, means for selectively superimposing said separate time signals electrically upon selected received radio program, and means for recording the superimposed time signal and radio program;

2. Time record producing apparatus, includ in combination, means for producing a time signal, means including a plurality of individuai amplifiers each supplied with said signal for pr0- ducinga plurality of separate amplified time signais corresponding to said first mentioned time signal, and means for selectively superimposing said separate time signals electrically upon the output of a selected received radio program.

3. Time record producing apparatus, including in combination, means for producing a time signal, means including an amplifier having an ad justable input and a plurality of output means for amplifying said signal, a plurality of individual adjustable isolating amplifiers each connected to a different one of said output means for producing a plurality of separate amplified time signals, a plurality of individual lines, means in cluding inductive coupling means for selectively superimposing said separate time signals electrically upon the individual lines, means inductively connecting selected radio programs to said individual lines, and means adapted to be inductively and selectively coupled to said individual lines for recording the time signal and radio program superimposed upon said lines.

4. Time record producing apparatus, including in combination, means for producing a time signal, means including an amplifier having an adjustable input and a plurality of output means for amplifying said signal, a plurality of individual adjustable isolating amplifiers each connected to a different one of said output means for producing a plurality of separate amplified time signals, a plurality of individual lines, means including inductive coupling means for selectively superimposing said separate time signals electrically upon the individual lines, means inductively connecting selected radio programs to said individual lines, and means adapted to be inductively and selectively coupled to said individual lines for recording the time signal and radio program superimposed upon said lines, said inductive coupling means having matched impedances with respect to said lines.

5. Time record producing apparatus, including in combination, means for producing a time signal, means supplied with said signal for producing a plurality of separate time signals corre sponding to said first mentioned time signal, and means for selectively superimposing said separate time signals electrically upon the output of a selected received radio program.

HUGO L. RUSCH REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,909,765 Jenkins May'16, 1933 2,110,090 Ligh Mar. 1, 1938 

